Japan quake-hit plant may be shut a year or more

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant No.7 (L), No.6 (C) and No.5 reactors are seen in Kashiwazaki, Japan, July 18, 2007.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The world's biggest nuclear power plant may be shut for more than a year for checks after an earthquake in Japan caused radiation leaks, prompting speculation of power shortages and deepening concern about the safety of the industry in the tremor-prone country.

Fears about the safety of Japan's nuclear industry have been renewed by radiation leaks from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) plant in the northwestern city of Kashiwazaki, hard hit by a 6.8 magnitude quake on Monday.

"It's no wonder that the people's anxiety and distrust over the safety of nuclear power keep rising," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a weekly email magazine. "Needless to say, ensuring the people's safety is of utmost importance."

Authorities have already said the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, closed since the quake that flattened homes and killed 10 people, cannot reopen until safety is assured.

The government might order TEPCO to keep the plant closed for more than a year while a safety study is conducted, the Nikkei business newspaper reported, raising questions about possible power shortages during the peak summer demand season.

The report also sent the firm's shares sharply lower.

The shutdown might be much longer if the facility -- built over what now appears to be an active fault line and long criticized by anti-nuclear activists as unsafe -- needs to be reinforced, the newspaper said.

Japan's nuclear industry has been tarnished by cover-ups of accidents and fudged safety records.

The flow of bad news this week, including TEPCO's admission that the amount of radiation in water that leaked into the ocean was more than first estimated, has done nothing to ease concerns.

NO RESTART DATE

TEPCO spokesman Jun Oshima said the utility was unsure when it could restart the plant. "The priority is on being able to say that the facility is safe," he said.

Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, also declined to say when the plant might reopen.

Analysts warn the firm, Japan's largest utility, faces millions of dollars in extra costs and a possible dividend cut if it has to fire up mothballed plants to meet heavy summer demand.

It's shares fell more than 5 percent on Thursday, more than doubling their losses since Monday's quake.

TEPCO has said the tremor was stronger than the plant, whose first reactor came on stream more than 20 years ago, had been designed to withstand.

The firm said it assumed the fault that caused this week's tremor was one found nearly 30 years ago, as the plant was being built. The fault had not caused concern then because it had not been expected to cause a big quake, it said.

Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and every year there are up to 2,000 quakes that can be felt by people.

Quake-proofing regulations for Japan's 17 nuclear power stations -- which supply about one-third of the resource-poor country's electricity -- were tightened last year, requiring utilities to reassess risks to their plants.

Completing the studies could take more than two years, a regulatory official said, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters the government wanted them speeded up.

POWER SHORTAGES?

TEPCO supplies power to the greater Tokyo area, where peak demand of 68 million kilowatts is forecast during the capital's muggy summer. Shutting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant deprives TEPCO of up to 8.2 million kilowatts of output.

TEPCO has asked six utilities to help replace lost production. It said power supplies were sufficient for now, especially since summer has so far been unseasonably cool, but added it might restart unused thermal plants if needed.

Tadao Yabe, a local Kashiwazaki lawmaker, said the latest developments would boost anti-nuclear opposition among residents.

"I think people are really fed up. When they saw flames rising from that fire, they must have said, 'that's it'," Yabe told Reuters this week.